Whistle-blight Sickness

"The ailment your father is suffering from isn't anything called Whistle Blight sickness but a non-naturally occurring sickness called Eclipsia Ashen Syndrome," Benjamin explained.

Miss Anderson grimaced. 

"Eclipsia Ashen Syndrome? I've never heard of that before. Also, what do you mean by non-naturally occurring?" She asked.

"It means that it isn't a sickness that should exist but rather was made in a lab somewhere", Benjamin replied and the woman's eyes widened.

"Are you saying someone did something to my father that caused—" Miss Anderson suddenly froze and pondered on something for a moment, then her mood changed, looking like she had just gotten an epiphany.

Just then, she looked at Benjamin skeptically.

"How exactly do you know what's wrong with my father when you didn't do a check on him like Doctor Kingsley?" Miss Anderson asked and Benjamin lowered his head, looking like he was hiding something from her.

She groaned with suspicion. 

"Was it the same way you overheard my discussion with the police captain from inside the holding cell tens of feet away?" She asked and Benjamin looked at her. 

His expression screamed "Yes" 

"Okay then. I won't ask any questions besides this next one, so I want you to answer honestly. Can I trust you over Doctor Kingsley over there?" she asked.

With a look of absolute resolve, Benjamin said "I swear on my mother's life, you can."

Benjamin looked at Doctor Kingsley and said "He doesn't know what he's talking about and will most likely make your father's condition worse." 

He then looked at Miss Anderson and continued "I can't tell you how, but I can and will do what he and every other doctor that has been here can't. That's a promise" 

Miss Andersen looked Benjamin up and down, and just like back at the police station, her gut told her to trust him—and her instincts had never been wrong.

It was his eyes. They held the look of someone who believed, without a doubt, in what they were saying.

"Alright then. I'll believe in you, so let's go stop this charade and really help my father", she said.

"Yes, let's", Benjamin replied and both of them walked back to the bed. 

Immediately, Miss Anderson said, "Excuse me, Doctor Kingsley, but what did you say was the name of the sickness plaguing my father again?"

Kingsley looked at her, then he looked at Henry, wondering if he should reply to the woman who had just questioned him.

Henry rolled his eyes as he sighed exasperatedly, gesturing that Kingsley should just get it over with and tell Miss Anderson what she wanted to know. 

"It's called the Whistle-blight sickness," Kingsley replied. 

Miss Anderson stared straight into the doctor's eyes and groaned. He didn't have the confidence that Benjamin had when she asked him the same question. Rather, she saw pride and annoyance as he didn't like being questioned, which was understandable and common for a man with his accolades, but accolades didn't mean he could help in the current situation. 

"So this whistle-blight sickness you just mentioned, is it naturally occurring or non-naturally occurring?" Miss Anderson asked and Kingsley grimaced in confusion.

"What are you trying to get at, Anderson?" Henry asked. 

Miss Anderson looked at her annoyed half-brother and replied "I just wanted the doctor to let us know if the sickness that afflicts our father exists out here in nature. I mean, we need to know how he got it so we can avoid it at all costs." 

Miss Anderson looked at Kingsley and said, "So I'm waiting for you to answer my question, doctor. Is it a naturally occurring sickness or not?" 

Kingsley looked at Henry again, wondering if he should be entertaining the woman who the rest of the family seemed to not want to be there. 

"Just humor her, and maybe she'll shut up", Henry gestured at the doctor, already getting fed up with Miss Anderson.

"Well, the answer is yes and no. Whistle blight sickness is the result of a very rare genetic defect that's triggered when the victim comes in contact with a just-as-rare but naturally occurring element. Mister Sebastian must have been exposed to the element, and it triggered the sickness in him", Kingsley said.

"Did you hear that, Anderson? Are you satisfied now or do you want to annoy us and the good doctor with more useless questions?" Henry asked condescendingly.

Miss Anderson looked at Benjamin, who whispered something to her, then she looked at Henry and said "Just one more question, and I'm done. I promise"

"Can you also be done with life and just disappear?" Henry rolled his eyes and let Miss Anderson ask Kingsley what she wanted to ask. 

"Considering the condition and environment we found our father after he had succumbed to the sickness, it's difficult to imagine how he could have been exposed to the triggering element you mentioned, which is why, for the past three years, the rest of us wondered whether someone had done this to him on purpose. But that doesn't really matter right now", Miss Anderson said.

The theory that Sebastian's sickness was deliberately caused by someone was the main reason Miss Anderson believed Benjamin over Kingsley, as his answer to the nature of the sickness supported that idea while Kingsley's did not.

The rest of the family, who had once believed that an enemy was responsible for the patriarch's sickness but had been convinced otherwise by Kingsley, grew a little self-conscious after hearing what Miss Anderson had just said.

"My question is, how do you plan to treat our father?" Miss Anderson asked.

Suddenly, Henry said "Thank you! You finally ask a good question after all that nonsense rambling!" 

Henry looked at the doctor and said, "Please doctor, forget that the question had come from her and tell us how you're going to cure our father."

Kingsley smirked cockily. 

"As I said earlier, I've already encountered a patient with the same sickness as the patriarch and, thanks to her, I was able to make the cure. Since Whistle-Blight is caused by a genetic defect, I treated it by using the miracle drug I invented, but with a few tweaks to the formula that turned it into the perfect cure for the disease," Kingsley said, and the family members, besides Miss Anderson, cheered him on. 

The doctor went for his briefcase and opened it then he took out the new and improved version of his miracle drug that cures the whistle blight sickness. 

Miss Anderson moved closer to Benjamin and said "I did everything you suggested, so what now?"

"Now is my turn," Benjamin said, then he looked at the vial in Kingsley's hand and, with his Search Skill, checked if it would cure Sebastian's sickness. 

He even sneakily pressed the search icon in the top right of the display as Miss Anderson watched him.

A second later, a document on the upgraded miracle drug in Kingsley's hand appeared on the display. 

The document detailed the name of the drug, its components, and, most importantly, whether it could cure Sebastian's sickness—even though Doctor Kingsley had misdiagnosed the illness.

Since it was a miracle drug, maybe it could also work here, Benjamin thought, but that thought quickly vanished when he read the information on the display. 

The first thing he saw was a danger warning, and he panicked, hastening how fast he read the rest of the information.

All Miss Anderson saw was the shocked and panicked expression on Benjamin's face as he stared at Kingsley, who was preparing to administer his miracle drug to Sebastian.

Unknown to her, Benjamin was reading important information on the display only he could see. 

A few seconds later, Benjamin looked at Miss Anderson and said "We can't let him use that drug on your father."

"Why?" Miss Anderson grimaced.

With a straight face, Benjamin said, "Because it will kill him."

"What?!" Miss Anderson exclaimed.